Transparency of sustainability disclosures among luxury and mass-market fashion brands

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study explores the transparency status of sustainability disclosures among luxury and mass-market fashion brands, examining the possibilities that the type of information disclosed is selectively prioritized, and higher differences in supply chain disclosure exist among differently positioned retail brands. Fashion Transparency Index 2017 represents the first comprehensive index that ranked 100 of the most affluent fashion brands according to the levels of corporate and supply chain transparency. To explore the index raw-data study employs non-parametric methods, the Hodges-Lehmann median differences and the Probability of Superiority. For 100 brands, the average corporate and supply chain transparency joint score was just 19.6% (out of 100%). The type of information disclosed was selectively prioritized, and there was an 80% chance that brands were scored higher in corporate than in supply chain transparency. A comparison of the mass-market (n = 27) and luxury (n = 13) sub-sample revealed higher transparency of supply chain disclosures among mass-market brands. Benchmarking the transparency of sustainability disclosures serves as a point of reference against which current and future disclosures may be assessed. Consumers may use these findings to question current transparency status and facilitate further industry change. Retailers might use identified critical areas to re-negotiate priorities for future disclosure.